President of Republic of Kosovo, madam Atifete Jahjaga attended today’s solemn session of the Assembly of Republic of Kosovo on the occassion of ending the supervised indepedence.<\/p>\n
On this occasion she delievered the following speech:
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\nHonorable members of the Parliament,
\nHonorable head of the Kosovo Assembly,
\nHonorable Prime Minister,
\nHonorable ministers,
\nHonorable leaders of Kosovo’s religious communities
\nHonorable ambassadors and representatives of the diplomatic missions in Kosovo.
\nHonorable representatives of the International Steering Group,
\nHonorable Mr. Reeker, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
\nHonorable Mr. Spindelegger, Austria’s Foreign Minister
\nHonorable friends of the Republic of Kosovo, President Ahtisaari, Mr. Ishinger, Mr. Wisner,
\nHonorable citizens of the Republic of Kosovo,
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\nToday is an important day for our people, for the Republic of Kosovo, for our sovereign and independent state, built on the civic principle, in which all the people enjoy their rights and freedoms as equals.
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\nThe Republic of Kosovo, a sovereign and independent country, is the outcome of century-old efforts of our people for freedom, independence and democracy, which required the sacrifice of many generations and was cemented by the honorable war of the Kosovo Liberation Army, of the legendary commander Adem Jashari, of the best men and women of this nation, through the independence movement conceived and led by the historic President Dr. Ibrahim Rugova, through the strong international support, through NATO’s humanitarian intervention, the continuous support of the United States of America and the member states of the European Union.
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\nSince 1999 until now our country remedied the consequences of the war and successfully completed the rebuilding period, the period of state-building, of development and progress of all democratic processes through the unwavering involvement and dedication of all the citizens and the continuous international support. For that we express our graditute and heartfelt thanks to men and women who came here through the diplomatic, humanitarian, civilian and military missions, and gave an extraordinary contribution for the development and the overall progress of our country.
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\nThe successful completion of the supervised independence, which is our joint success, shows that the institutions and the citizens of the Republic of Kosova are committed and responsible in conducting all the tasks that ensure the functionality of the state.
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\nToday we are a society of free peoples, a place of equal chances and opportunities, we are a civic country in which people, regardless of their ethnic background, religious or racial belonging, regardless of their size, enjoy all their rights and freedoms equally in their homeland of Kosovo, alongside Constitutional guarantees and while being the masters of their own fate, builders of their own future.
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\nThe communities that live in our country: Serbs, Bosniaks, Turks, Goranis, Montenegrins, Croats, Romas, Ashkalis, Egyptians and others realize their individual and collective national and civic rights. Through the process of decentralization and the Ahtisaari Package, which has been fully integrated in the Constitution and the laws of our country, in the whole of Kosovo, and especially in the municipalities where they make a considerable population, they run their affairs, taking responsibility for the overall development, and especially running matters such as education, health, managment of finances and municipal taxes.
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\nSome of these municipalities govern institutions of higher education and secondary health services. We consider all of this to be our bundle of wealth, an asset in the relationships among people, for which we offer guarantees of preservation and unhindered development of culture, tradition, through the protection of institutions of cult and religion and of cultural heritage. We provide an example of how to build a better future for all of us through mutual understanding, trust and tolerance.
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\nIn our civic democracy, the institutions’ principle of action is the internal dialogue and mutual trust. We shall engage in dialogue with the citizens in the three northern municipalities of Kosovo to reach an understanding that acting through the institutions, through governance in the municipal level will provice success in this part of Kosovo just like it did in the other municipalities of Kosovo, because it will enable the citizens to elect their legal and legitimate representatives through free and fair elections that will represent their interests.
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\nThe Republic of Kosovo is a factor of peace and stability, a country which conducts good neighborly relations with a variety of states, as an equal member of the international community that gives its contribution by playing its part in the region and beyond, and firmly in its path toward the EuroAtlantic integrations.
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\nWe consider the normalization of the relations between the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia as a contribution to peace and stability. We have expressed our commitment to developing the relations as two sovereign and independent states. We respect and welcome as a neccessity the assistance of the European Union and the United States of America in this process, especially in the dialogue which is taking place between our countries in Brussels. The agreements reached, which our country is implementing fully, benefit the citizens of our two countries. Good neighborly relations are a pre-condition for the countries that want to join the European Union. Even though this path is country specific, we can meet the criteria by helping and not obstructing each other.
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\nOur ideal, commitment and goal is to be a country of great opportunities, a prosperous country of high democratic standards, a place where the young want to live, go to school and work because they believe in its perspective and secure future.
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\nIn this dream of ours which we’re turning into a reality today, we are building all the mechanisms and our capacities in line with European and global trends. We will use our wealth and resources to develop our country, we will put to work the potential of our capable and well-educated youth to advance all the democratic processes in our country and to build it. We are conducting deep reforms in all the areas, including the administration, to meet the standards and bring our country closer to the EU. We want a quality service for our citizens wherever they are, in every part and corner of Kosovo.
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\nIn this period of transition, our country is challenged by certain difficulties which are characteristic for this period of development. The fight against corruption and organized crime must be won. All of us, the citizens, institutions, specialized bodies and our international partners are committed and engaged in uprooting and beating this ill that darkens the perspective of our country and our future. This is the only way through which we can strengthen our country, only this way will we enliven the principle of the rule of law and this is the only way through which we can increase the trust of our citizens in the institutions and win the respect of the international community. <\/p>\n
We have built the Kosovo Police from scratch, a professional institution, well-trained in accordance with the highest standards, and capable of protecting and preserving the law and order.
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\nWe have founded the Kosovo Security Force, trained by NATO standards. <\/p>\n
All of these accomplishments make our country sustainable and democratic, a country of trust and hope.
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\nHonorable members of the parliament,
\nHonorable friends of our country,
\nHonorable citizens of the Republic of Kosovo,
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\nOur vision as a peoples and a country is Europe, where we belong culturally and are part of its civilization, to become a dignified and equal part through the membership in NATO and the European Union.
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\nAs a country and a society we meet all the preconditions, standards and necessary reforms to turn this vision of ours into a reality as soon as possible.
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\nWe will accomplish this, like everything else, with our commitment and will and the generous support of our international friends.
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\nThe completion of the supervised independence is a natural progression in our path. It is a just solution of our quest, of our ideals for freedom, independence and democracy. <\/p>\n
Honorable citizens,
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\nFrom this solemn session, allow me to thank our friends that have honored us today, in this historic day for our country, with their presence.
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\nHonorable President Ahtisaari, Ambassador Wisner, Ambassador Ischinger, on behalf of all the citizens of Kosovo I thank you from the heart. You will always enjoy our respect and our deepest graditute for all the work and your involvement for Kosovo, for peace and stability, for understanding and solidarity among people, and the ideal of freedom and democracy.
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\nAllow me to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have contributed to the accomplishment of these ideals.
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\nAllow me to also express my respect for the late Ambassador Richard Holbrook and British Foreign Minister Robin Cook, who\u00a0 left a deep mark in our era.
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\nWe express our sympathy and remember all those men and women who gave their lives for Kosovo. We thank them eternally.
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\nCongratulations for our joint successes
\nGod Bless Kosovo
\nGod Bless all of you.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President of Republic of Kosovo, madam Atifete Jahjaga attended today’s solemn session of the Assembly of Republic of Kosovo on the occassion of ending the supervised indepedence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[111],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n